Does anybody know of research papers or academic resources that study the full development and growth of medieval cities? I mean, from village stage to city stage. Or maybe cities did not develop that way. I'm trying to know what usually happened, in the most accurate and comprehensive way possible, since the "foundation" of what would be a city up to c. AD 1450. I know of course that most surviving cities c. AD 500 were old roman forts etc., but were there any cities founded in Europe in the middle ages that are chronicled?

I am also curious about population in cities and villages. I mean, I know large medieval cities had around 20,000 people, but where did they live? As far as I know, medieval houses were not that big and there weren't many of them in cities and villages.

Are you curious about the process, or are you looking for lots of raw numbers for actual cities?
– T.E.D.♦Dec 30 '12 at 18:52

Actually raw numbers aren't that important. I'd like to know about the process in great detail, at least of one particular city. Then, I think, raw numbers could be interpreted more easily, and common "stages" or "sub-processes" might be identified in other cities.
– JS RolónDec 30 '12 at 18:58

Ah. In that case, I don't have an answer for you, but I'm up-voting the question because I'd like to see that too.
– T.E.D.♦Dec 30 '12 at 19:33

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Welcome to the site and +1 for a good question.
– Felix GoldbergDec 30 '12 at 19:51

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Central place theory. Should be in Wikipedia.
– Mark C. Wallace♦Oct 2 '17 at 19:57

2 Answers
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Offhand, you may want to look up Pirenne's work. His study of cities led to the powerful and controversial Pirenne Thesis, but I think that reading his original work would be valuable in itself and relevant to your question.

it was not the invasion of the Germanic tribes that destroyed the civilization of antiquity, but rather the closing of Mediterranean trade by Arab conquest in the seventh century. The consequent interruption of long distance commerce accelerated the decline of the ancient cities of Europe.
Princeton University Press

One point to note about the question: describing a 5-6th century cities as "old Roman forts" is a serious oversimplification.

But are there any major medieval cities that weren't originally Roman? I can only think of Venice
– noneDec 31 '12 at 3:52

@mgb why do you think that Venice was not Roman?
– AnixxDec 31 '12 at 9:25

@Anixx: Venice is indeed Roman in foundation, but actually it fits the "old Roman fort" label not bad at all. Its first significant development belongs to the Byzantine era.
– Felix GoldbergDec 31 '12 at 11:54

Well, looking at Paris we can see an example of a city that was built around an old Roman city. It's not entirely correct, as Felix pointed out, that medieval cities are descendants of "old Roman forts", as Roman cities were actually often used in a rather directly copied format.

In short, up until a certain time, it's pretty likely that cities were basically just rebuilt Roman ones. If a city was built or extended after Roman times, it was built around an important fortification or old Roman settlement but would be built not on a grid, rather taking advantage of the elevation of the surrounding terrain (according to Wikipedia). River banks would also serve as a guide for how towns came together.

This is not, however, to say exclusively that medieval towns were built without rhyme or reason; Elberg, for instance, was built with straight streets and a symmetrical design that was reminiscent of Roman designs and foreshadowed Renaissance building.

What might be particularly interesting is that Elberg started out as a town that was then expanded into its more orderly, planned format. The original town did not necessarily look as orderly as it did once it was expanded in the late 1300's.
– Kyle WilleyDec 28 '13 at 2:05